Still a Lie

On February 17, 2008, the ethnic Albanian provisional government of the NATO-occupied
province of Kosovo declared
independence. Five years later, the “Republic of Kosovo” has been recognized
by half the world’s governments and enjoys unqualified Imperial support. It
is also a crime- and corruption-ridden hellhole, and a failure of Western nation-building
project.

Not surprisingly, the cheerful congratulations from the White
House and Foggy
Bottom paint a rosy picture of progress, prosperity, peace, human rights,
rule of law and multiethnic coexistence. “Kosovian” reality, as usual, is quite
different.

Business As Usual

In November last year, as Albanians from Kosovo and Macedonia joined the celebrations
of Albania’s independence centennial, the German weekly Der Spiegel published
an insider
testimonial about Kosovo:

“The so-called EULEX mission, with a staff of roughly 2,500, has cost more
than €1 billion ($1.3 billion) since 2008. Nevertheless, a recent report by
the European Court of Auditors finds that there have been hardly any successes.”

Similar sentiments can be found in a recent
article in France’s daily Le Monde, which asked: “is the EU turning
a blind eye to corruption and organized crime?”

Both the French and the German reporters are remarkably naive. The function
of EULEX was never to alter the Albanian society, where “law and order” largely
revolves around a medieval concept of vendetta. Rather, its purpose was to replace
the status-neutral UN mission with a presence directly controlled by Brussels
and Washington, openly supportive of “independence.” It has done precisely that.
Hence the praise from Washington for “progress” in the very fields the Europeans
shyly point out as failures.

And that’s without a single word mentioning the murderous bigotry against non-Albanians
in the self-proclaimed state.

Evil and Monuments Thereto

Albanians claims of
persecution and discrimination have first gained traction in the U.S. during
the late 1980s, as grievance lobbies competed for policy attention in the chaos
following the end of the Cold War. Yet it was only after the Dayton Accords
ended the Bosnian War in 1995 that Washington began stoking the fires of violence
in southern Serbia. In 1998, the Empire officially embraced the “Kosovo Liberation
Army”, which it previously
labeled “terrorist,” and threatened Belgrade with war unless it surrendered
to rebel demands. In January 1999, following a staged “massacre,” NATO gave
then-Yugoslavia an ultimatum: allow NATO occupation of Kosovo, or else. Belgrade
said no.

An evil
little war followed, wrong in both cause and conduct. Unable to hurt the
Yugoslav Army, NATO began to terrorize civilians, until
a face-saving compromise was proposed by Moscow. Not surprisingly, NATO shredded
the deal before the ink was dry, and once in possession of the province
turned it over to the KLA.

The result was a reign
of terror: murder, rape, arson, demolition of churches, chapels and cemeteries
– all directed not just against the Serbs, but also the Gorani, Romany and even
Albanians who weren’t fully on board with KLA rule. NATO “peacekeepers” looked
the other way, while the Western media – which had spun tall tales of “100,000
dead” and “rape camps” and “genocide” to help justify the war – shrugged the
terror off as “revenge attacks.” In a particularly vile twist, Albanian repression
was thus turned into “proof” that Albanians had been repressed.

The terror culminated in March 2004, with a pogrom
one UN official compared to Kristallnacht, when 50,000 or so Albanians
systematically torched Serb villages and tore down churches. In the aftermath,
the propaganda machine went
into overdrive, arguing that the pogrom ought to be rewarded with independence.
And so it was.

In 2005, Bush II embraced
the Balkans policy of his defeated challenger, and pledged support for the “Kosovian”
cause. The UN whitewashed
the pogrom and stopped insisting on “standards before status.” When opposition
from Belgrade and Moscow stalled
the independence creep, the Empire had the leadership in Belgrade replaced,
and sidelined Moscow by having the Albanians declare independence unilaterally.

When Belgrade asked the International Court of Justice to opine on the legality
of the declaration – which by all rights should have been nonexistent – the
ICJ resorted to semantic
contortions to make it legal.

Because of Reasons

There have been numerous explanations for Empire’s obsession with “Kosovo”
over the years. One popular theory is that the province is rich in minerals
and other natural resources, so the wars and the propaganda were all about greed.
It is reinforced every so often with rumors of this or that former Imperial
official seeking to invest in some major project – Madeleine Albright’s conglomerate
in mobile telephony, or Wesley Clark in fracking for gas, for example.

In December 2012, the New York Timesran
a story about Americans who “helped free Kosovo” (sic) returning to a heroes’
welcome as investors. While some of these people no doubt seek to cash in on
their reputation, Albright’s telephone takeover is
in limbo, while Clark’s oil and gas exploration has never been more than
a pipe
dream.

Vanity has certainly played a role in Imperial meddling. After declaring his
support for the “Kosovian” cause, Bush II was given worshipful
reception and a monument in Albania proper. His predecessor was honored
with a golden statue and a street in the “Kosovian” capital. A shopping mall
was named after his wife and later Secretary of State. It was Hillary Clinton
who, visiting Pristina last October, declared her interest – and that of all
Americans, even – to be “personal.”

One reason, however, rarely gets examined by the press: power. According to
insider memoirs,
the 1999 war wasn’t about the Albanians, or even so much about breaking the
Serbs, as much as sticking it to the Russians. Yet it was the “Kosovian
agenda,” starting with the 1999 attack on Serbia, that “lost”
Russia to Washington, as the client Yeltsin regime was overthrown in a palace
coup by Vladimir Putin.

Hegemon’s Gambit

Even so, there is still power
to be gained from breaking
Serbia. In the 1990s, the Empire’s propaganda apparatus manufactured an
image of the Serbs as arch-villains, whose atrocities supposedly spurred the
noble West into finding its moral compass and embarking on humanitarian
crusades. This paved the way to a world without rules, governed by the strongest,
who have the right to invade anyone, anywhere.

By making a public spectacle of Serbia’s humiliation, the Empire seeks to
maintain hegemony as long as possible, sending
a message to the rest of the world that resistance is futile. Judging by
the Muslim world, however, the message didn’t take. That is particularly ironic,
considering that the Balkans interventions were advertised
as proof of Empire’s good intentions towards Islam.

Working As Intended

Five years ago, when the Albanians declared “Kosovo” independent, their only
argument was conquest. Today they stand on the cusp of being officially recognized
by Belgrade – a result of systematic betrayal first by the puppet
regime of Boris Tadic, then by the replacement
quislings installed last May.

After all that has happened, the Imperial government has the cheek to congratulate
Serbia on its state holiday, praising “our many years as partners and friends”
and wishing “all the people of Serbia… a peaceful and prosperous future.”
If this is partnership and friendship, what does hostility look like?

The “Kosovian” black hole and the treason of Belgrade are not glitches in the
system, but features. The system, as designed by the Empire, is working
as intended. Yet Washington and Brussels are counting on the Serbs never figuring
it out, and even if they do, being absolutely powerless to do anything about
it.

Legend says this was precisely the attitude of Ottoman lords in February 1804,
right before a major
Serb uprising started the century-long struggle that eventually ended the
Ottoman Empire. The holiday which prompted Foggy Bottom’s “congratulations”
marks the day that rebellion began.

Author: Nebojsa Malic

Nebojsa Malic left his home in Bosnia after the Dayton Accords and currently resides in the United States. During the Bosnian War he had exposure to diplomatic and media affairs in Sarajevo. As a historian who specializes in international relations and the Balkans, Malic has written numerous essays on the Kosovo War, Bosnia, and Serbian politics. His exclusive column for Antiwar.com debuted in November 2000.